The aim was to examine the relationship between part-time work and experimentation with drugs among Finnish adolescents. The cross-sectional survey data (School Health Promotion Survey, n - 47 568) were collected in classrooms in Spring 2000, Respondents were between 14.3 and 16.2 years old. The response rate was 82I. Drug use during the past 30 days, work intensity and work type measures were obtained from self-administered questionnaires. Polychotomous logistic regression was used as the main method of analysis. Working more than 10 h per week was associated with an increased likelihood of frequent drug use (five times or more), but not of occasional experiments. Similarly, engagement in some types of 'adult-like' work was significantly associated with an increased likelihood of frequent drug use. Adult-like jobs are jobs that are typically held by adults in Finland, and are also generally more formal.

AIMS: To analyse the effects of age, period and cohort (APC) on light and binge drinking in the general population of Finland over the past 40 years. METHODS: All analyses were based on six Drinking Habits Surveys between 1968 and 2008 of representative samples of the Finnish population aged between 15 and 69 (n = 16,400). The number of drinking occasions per year involving 1-2 drinks (light) and 4+ or 6+ drinks (binges) was used as a dependent variable in APC modelling. Descriptive cohort profiles and negative binomial models were used to assess the effects of APC. RESULTS: Descriptive cohort profiles differed for light and binge drinking. No substantial differences were found across cohort profiles for light drinking, while APC modelling predicted declining cohort and increasing period effects. Differences between cohorts were found for binge drinking, with predictions of slightly declining or increasing period and increasing cohort effects. CONCLUSIONS: Light drinking has increased over time for each cohort, with no substantial differences between cohort profiles. Binge drinking has increased with more recent cohorts and there are distinct differences between cohort profiles, especially among women.

The comparability of general population studies on alcohol from nine European countries is evaluated from three points of view: (1) methodologic aspects influencing alcohol estimates, (2) variation between countries in coverage of sales estimates of alcohol consumption, and (3) associations between type of question used to measure alcohol consumption and gender differences in alcohol consumption. With respect to methodologic aspects, it was found that the studies differed on most of the 10 points included in this comparison. The coverage of sales estimates by surveys varies between 39% (Germany) and 56% (France). With respect to type of question and gender differences, it was found that more elaborate sets of questions on alcohol consumption are associated with smaller gender differences in the prevalence of heavy drinking (>600 g 100% alc/mo). It is concluded that the methodologic differences between studies and the differences in sales coverage do not allow cross-national comparison of survey estimates of alcohol consumption of different European countries. Compared with more elaborate sets of questions on alcohol consumption, simple questions on alcohol consumption are likely to underestimate gender differences in the prevalence of heavier drinking. (Author' s abstract)

Objective. To evaluate the relation between midlife alcohol consumption and mild cognitive impairment and dementia in old age, and the possible modification of this relation by apolipoprotein E. Design. Prospective, population based study. Setting. Populations of Kuopio and Joensuu, eastern Finland. Participants. Of 1464 men and women aged 65-79 years randomly selected from population based samples studied in 1972 or 1977, 1018 (70%) were re-examined in 1998 (after an average follow up of 23 years). Main outcome measures. Mild cognitive impairment and dementia in old age. Results. Participants who drank no alcohol at midlife and those who drank alcohol frequently were both twice as likely to have mild cognitive impairment in old age as those participants who drank alcohol infrequently. The risk of dementia related to alcohol drinking was modified by the presence of the apolipoprotein e4 allele. The carriers of apolipoprotein e4 had an increased risk of dementia with increasing alcohol consumption: compared with non-carriers who never drank, the odds ratio for carriers who never drank was 0.6, for infrequent drinkers it was 2.3, and for frequent drinkers was 3.6 (the overall interaction term "drinking frequency*apolipoprotein e4" was significant (P = 0.04), as were the interactions "infrequent drinking*apolipoprotein e4" (P = 0.02) and "frequent drinking*apolipoprotein e4" (P = 0.03)). Non-carriers of apolipoprotein e4 had similar odds ratios for dementia irrespective of alcohol consumption. Conclusion. Alcohol drinking in middle age showed a U shaped relation with risk of mild cognitive impairment in old age. Risk of dementia increased with increasing alcohol consumption only in those individuals carrying the apolipoprotein e4 allele. (Review' s abstract)